Mike Rouse – a.k.a. sodaGod – is the man. He is _el capitan_ of Machine Enema, a Halo-based “machinima”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machinima group. Of all the machinima producers out there right now, Machine Enema produces the best quality movies. Mike has written a number of really solid stories and then translates those into video that, quite simply, sparkles like none other. He introduces a number of ambient effects to give his movies a very unique feel. It’s often difficult to find good voice talent for machinima, but Mike has managed to land a number of excellent voice actors. Heck, Mike even does half the voices in most of his movies himself.

spartans.gifOne of my favorite series currently is PIE. It’s about three super-enhanced warriors, one of which become possessed by a malevolent AI. It’s up to one of these warriors – ADAM – to stop him before he can destroy everything. There are four-and-a-half chapters available in this series at the moment. The chapter titled “Pestilence” falls between Chapters 2 and 3 and provides an alternate viewpoint. The… ‘half-chapter’ is titled Omicron and falls in as something of a prequel to the series. “Omicron” may actually be my favorite of the bunch, ironically _because_ it’s short yet tells a lot of story in short order. It _is_ required, however, to have seen the prior four chapters before watching Omicron; it doesn’t make quite as much sense without having that context.

I love Mike’s scripts – they’re always funny and witty while at the same time being powerful and moving. I can’t wait to see if he produces any more chapters in this series. He’s also running a series called Jungle Trigonometry, which seems to be something along the lines of a series of stream-of-consciousness explorations. It’s very, very random and strange. It’s not really my cuppatea, but I have to admit that there is a certain level of artistic beauty to the sketches that makes them enjoyable.

SubscribeFor Updates

Join my mailing list to receive new content and updates direct to your inbox.

You have Successfully Subscribed!